Caxton Associates LLP Makes New $365,000 Investment in Veeco Instruments Inc. $VECO

Key Points

• Caxton Associates LLP invested $365,000 to acquire 18,183 shares of Veeco Instruments Inc. during the first quarter.
• Institutional investors collectively own 98.46% of Veeco Instruments' stock, with several firms increasing their positions, including Raymond James Financial Inc., which boosted its stake by 55.8%.
• Veeco Instruments reported a net margin of 8.65% and achieved earnings per share of $0.36, exceeding analyst expectations of $0.22.

Caxton Associates LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 18,183 shares of the semiconductor company's stock, valued at approximately $365,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its position in shares of Veeco Instruments by 6.6% during the first quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 2,930,315 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $58,841,000 after acquiring an additional 182,143 shares during the last quarter. Paradigm Capital Management Inc. NY boosted its position in shares of Veeco Instruments by 20.0% during the first quarter. Paradigm Capital Management Inc. NY now owns 2,380,000 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $47,790,000 after acquiring an additional 397,200 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. boosted its position in shares of Veeco Instruments by 55.8% during the first quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 835,539 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $16,778,000 after acquiring an additional 299,235 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Veeco Instruments by 35.4% during the first quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 667,383 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $13,401,000 after acquiring an additional 174,344 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Veeco Instruments by 4.4% during the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 530,956 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $10,662,000 after acquiring an additional 22,186 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.46% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Veeco Instruments

In other news, CEO William John Miller sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.00, for a total value of $625,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 470,671 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $11,766,775. This represents a 5.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 2.40% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VECO has been the subject of a number of research reports. Needham & Company LLC upped their target price on shares of Veeco Instruments from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Benchmark reduced their price target on shares of Veeco Instruments from $31.00 to $28.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Veeco Instruments currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $27.33.

Veeco Instruments Trading Down 1.1%

Shares of VECO opened at $25.34 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 3.43 and a current ratio of 5.10. The company's fifty day moving average is $22.82 and its 200 day moving average is $21.07. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.52 billion, a PE ratio of 24.84 and a beta of 1.23. Veeco Instruments Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $16.92 and a fifty-two week high of $34.34.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 6th. The semiconductor company reported $0.36 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.22 by $0.14. Veeco Instruments had a net margin of 8.65% and a return on equity of 7.38%. The company had revenue of $166.10 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $151.31 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.42 earnings per share. Veeco Instruments's quarterly revenue was down 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Veeco Instruments Inc. will post 0.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Veeco Instruments

Veeco Instruments Inc, together with its subsidiaries, develops, manufactures, sells, and supports semiconductor and thin film process equipment primarily to make electronic devices in the United States, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, China, Rest of the Asia-Pacific, and internationally. The company offers laser annealing, ion beam deposition and etch, metal organic chemical vapor deposition, single wafer wet processing and surface preparation, molecular beam epitaxy, advanced packaging lithography, atomic layer deposition, and other deposition systems.

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